ferry.qxp 08/03/2006 11:30 PÆgina 90 Transportes, Servicios y Telecomunicaciones, número 9 [90] FERRY DE GOEY Resumen Terminó el doctorado en 1980 y posteriormente se convirtió en ste artículo investiga la evolución del sector de los cruceros profesor de la facultad de Historia Edurante el siglo XX, comparando para ello la historia de dos y Artes de la Universidad compañías: Holland America Line (HAL) y Carnival Cruise Erasmus, de Rotterdam, especial- Lines (CCL). HAL empezó en 1872 como un servicio de izándose en Historia Económica transatlánticos de pasajeros entre Rotterdam y Nueva York. Tras de Holanda e Historia de la la Segunda Guerra Mundial, HAL logró transformarse en una Empresa. compañía de cruceros de lujo que operaba en Estados Unidos. Frente a esto, CCL no dio sus primeros pasos hasta 1974 y llegó a convertirse en una de las grandes compañías estadounidenses ofreciendo cruceros económicos. En 1989, CCL compró HAL y siguió expandiéndose mediante otras adquisiciones de empresas durante la década de 1990. En la actualidad es la mayor com- pañía de cruceros del mundo. Varios problemas amenazan la expansión futura del sector de los cruceros. Entre ellas se cuen- tan la seguridad de las personas, una clientela envejecida, la masificación de los destinos más demandados y populares y, finalmente, los atentados terroristas. Palabras clave: Historia del turismo; transporte marítimo; cruceros. Abstract his article investigates the development of the cruise indus- Ttry in the twentieth century by comparing the history of two companies: Holland America Line (HAL) and Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL). HAL started out in 1872 as a liner passenger serv- ice between Rotterdam and New York. After the Second World War, HAL successfully transformed itself in an upmarket cruise company operating in the United States. By contrast, CCL only began in 1974 and became a large American cruise company by offering cheap cruises. In 1989, CCL acquired HAL and expanded further through other take-overs in the 1990s. Currently it is the largest cruise company in the world. Several problems threaten further expansion of the cruise industry. These include health safety, an aging clientele, overcrowding of popular destinations, and terrorist attacks. Key words: History of turism; maritime transport; cruises. ferry.qxp 08/03/2006 11:30 PÆgina 91 [91] The Cruise Industry in the Twentieth Century Ferry de Goey Erasmus University Rotterdam f you remember the 1970s television series The Love Boat, you have the right age to take a cruise1. Economic research documents the tremendous Igrowth of tourism in general and particularly the cruise industry after the 1960s. About 11 percent (or 3.3 trillion US Dollars) of global GDP is contributed by the tourist industry and some 698 million tourists generated this economic result. While tourism used to be located in Europe and the USA (in 1950 the top 15 tourist attractions were all located in Europe and the USA), today it is a glo- bal industry with multinational enterprises2. This article examines the growth of the cruise industry in the twentieth centu- ry. Two cruise companies with rather different histories are compared to analyse the changes that affect the industry. The first company, Holland America Line (henceforth HAL) began in the early 1870s as a liner shipping company. It ran a passenger service between Rotterdam and New York. HAL successfully trans- formed itself in a cruise company after the Second World War. The second com- pany, Carnival Cruise Lines (hereafter CCL) started in the cruise business in the early 1970s, without much experience in passenger shipping. Today, CCL is the largest cruise company in the world. In the first section, we will look at the histo- ry of the shipping and early cruise industry until the beginning of commercial transatlantic air transport in the 1960s. Next, we discuss the history of HAL from the 1870s until 1989. Section three, covers the history of CCL from the small 1 This ABC television series, aired between 1977 and 1986, most surely promoted cruises in the 1970s and 1980s in North-America. 2 UNEP (2002), pp. 12-13. Transportes, Servicios y Telecomunicaciones, diciembre 2005, Número 9, pp. 90 a 108 ferry.qxp 08/03/2006 11:30 PÆgina 92 Transportes, Servicios y Telecomunicaciones, número 9 [92] beginning in 1974 until the 1990s. In the final section, we analyse the recent developments in the cruise industry from the early 1990s until 2005. 1. Cruising in the Western world ruises are part of the leisure industry and the shipping industry. A cruise is transportation and destination at the same time and therefore a definition Cwould be: a ship making a roundtrip with paying costumers, calling at di- fferent ports at scheduled intervals, offering entertainment on board and ashore. The cruise industry consists of several niches, the most important are: ocean or deep-sea cruises, coastal cruises, river cruises and marine (underwater) cruises. In the remainder of this article, the focus is on the most important segment of the cruise industry: deep-sea or ocean cruises. Cruising seems like a modern invention, but in fact, it has a very long history. Travel and tourism are probably as old as recorded human history, although some scholars dismiss the idea of holidays in ancient times3. However, graffiti on the foot of Sphinx at Gizeh attest to the arrival of tourist as early as 1261 BC4. On reflection, modern tourism does not differ very much from ancient tourism, except for the scale following the “democratisation of tourism” after the 1850s5. During the Roman Empire, thousands of citizens escaped from Rome during the hot sum- mertime and stayed at popular bathing resorts, like “bikini beach” in Baiae, near Naples6. There are also strong suggestions that Roman Emperors used galleys to cruise on rivers to relax, enjoy music, eat and dance7. In the year AD 130, the Roman emperor Hadrian (ruling from 117 to 138 AD), known as a keen traveller, visited the legendary “speaking statue” of Pharaoh Amenhotep III in Thebes8. An interesting development in the history of cruise ships took place in the se- venteenth century, when rich Dutch merchants used “Pleizirvaartuigen” (“plea- sure ships”) or “Speeljachten” (“fun yachts”) for leisure activities. During his forced exile in the Netherlands, King Charles II of England noticed these ships and on his return to England in 1660, the Mayor of Amsterdam donated such a ship. The idea got on in England and the British “yachtomanie” further spread the use of these ships9. 3 Inglis (2000), pp. 1, 14-15; Berghoff (2002), pp. 159-180. Tourism derived its name from the early-modern Grand Tour of British upper class visitors to Europe. Black (2003 a); Black (2003b); Withey (1997). Continental European travellers showed a similar interest in popular destinations as the British: the big cities, spa resorts, historic places and pilgrimages to neighbouring countries. See Bausinger, Beyrer, Korff (1991). 4 Feifer (1985), pp. 22-23. 5 Norvall (1936), p. 25. 6 Norvall (1936), pp. 20-24. 7 Schäfer (1998), pp. 25. 8 Feifer (1985), pp. 6-7. The statue did not speak at the time of Hadrian’s visit, but it apparently did the next day. 9 Schäfer (1998). p. 26. ferry.qxp 08/03/2006 11:30 PÆgina 93 FERRY DE GOEY The Cruise Industry in the Twentieth Century [93] In the nineteenth century, steamships launched a new phase in the history of cruising. Steamships offered faster travel, more safety and better comfort than sailing ships. Most important of all, they allowed sailing according to a fixed schedule. These characteristics made steamships especially suited for the cruise industry10. However, the first commercial steam shipping companies established in the 1830s and 1840s, simply responded to the growing demand from emigrants for cheap transatlantic passenger services11. Initially steamships thus held accom- modations for only a small number of cabin passengers, while most emigrants slept between decks: steerage. Major companies operating from British ports included Cunard Line (1838), Inman Line (1850), and White Star Line (1869)12. A geographical shift in the origin of emigrants, from the United Kingdom to Central and Eastern Europe, led to the establishment of several new shipping companies on the Continent13. In Germany, these included HAPAG (a.k.a. as Hamburg Amerika Line, 1847)14 and Norddeutscher Lloyd (1857). In France, the major line was Compagnie Générale Maritime (1855), while in Belgium it was Red Star Line (1871) and in the Netherlands Holland America Line (1872). Two factors stimulated these shipping companies to develop cruises from the late nineteenth century. To begin with, the emigrant business suffered a severe blow in the 1890s. Emigrants entering the United States had to pass through sta- tions: Ellis Island in New York and Angel Island in San Francisco. Doctors phy- sically examined new arrivals. Those declared sick had to leave and shipping companies paid for their return passage. Laws that were even more stringent fo- llowed in the 1920s, introducing quotas for the number of emigrants15. Secondly, before the introduction of wireless communication after 1912, passenger transport on the North Atlantic almost completely stopped during the winter months because the demand declined and companies considered the crossing much too dangerous. However, high building costs and related expenses (e.g. insurance, port dues), pressed ship owners to find additional income and they began promo- ting short “excursions” that ultimately developed into cruises. Arthur Anderson (1792-1868), managing director of British Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (1840, hereafter P&O) published a dummy advertisement for a cruise to the Orkney and Shetland Islands in 183516. Occasionally P&O send one of its steamers for a round trip from London to the Black Sea, starting in 1844 with the Tagus17.